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laughs. One of Eudora Welty’s characters had “a high laugh, like a dove cry.” Oscar Wilde has a laugh “like a thrush singing.” Nathaniel Hawthorne hears “a peel of laughter like the ringing of silvery bells.” Other writers have compared laughs to butterflies, rippling streams and runs on a guitar. ✓
A few words of advice: Writers who write good similes have learned to look intently at the world around them. It is from this constant, absorbed observation that images and comparisons emerge. We look intently at fallen leaves: What do we see? What EXACTLY do we see? What are the colors of autumn? Are the maple’s leaves as red as a toreador’s cape? As red as lipstick? Fire wagons? Ketchup?
The best similes are brief similes. Last year’s contest brought a simile' for “exciting”: “as exciting as a double match point at the U.S. Open in Flushing Meadow.” The final prepositional pharse, “in /Flushing Meadow,” was redundant. When similes run on and on, they lose their impact. Every word should contribute to the image being formed.
All set? What as solid? Stones, walls, biceps, cinderblocks? Or what is soft? JeU-O, spring rain, a child’s kiss? Let us listen intently to the sound of laughter. What arouses mirth? When we hear laughter at a dinner party, what are we reminded of? Do horses laugh? How do horses laugh?
One more reminder: complete sentences. Deadline Nov. 26. Send individual and classroom entries to The Writer’s Art, in care of the Rappahannock News. Let the fish fry proceed!
Copyright 1994
Universal Press Syndicate
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